U.s. General Says 29,000 Iraqi Troops Now Ready

WASHINGTON — The American general in charge of training the Iraqi army said Wednesday that 29,000 Iraqi troops are on their way to replacing American forces in the fight against insurgents.

Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus publicly broadened the definition of combat-ready Iraqi forces in the aftermath of a political firestorm over testimony to Congress last week by Gen. George Casey, overall commander in Iraq.

Casey had announced that only one Iraqi army battalion was now able to fight without U.S. help -- down from three battalions that had that capability in June.

Petraeus said 36 Iraqi battalions of army troops and special police combat battalions, totaling almost 29,000 troops, were now able to "take the lead" in combined U.S.-Iraqi operations. Petraeus said the wider role for Iraqi forces would free some U.S. combat forces to focus on other targets in Iraq in a preliminary step toward eventual U.S. troop withdrawals.

"It will understandably take quite some time before substantial numbers of [Iraqi] units are assessed as being fully independent and requiring no assistance," said Petraeus, outgoing commander of U.S. combat training for Iraqis.

Yet the training and combat experience of the additional 36 battalions of Iraqi security forces means Iraqis "can start to take over their own battle space and allow us to move our forces elsewhere -- or come home," Petraeus said.

Petraeus downplayed the combat prowess of Iraqi forces, saying that "few of these units are candidates for" the combat status of legendary assault forces such as the 101st Airborne Division or the 1st Marine Division. But Petraeus praised the Iraqis for continuing to enlist in the post-Saddam Hussein armed forces and for bearing casualties at twice the rate of U.S. forces.

"The Iraqis are in this fight. They are fighting and dying for their country and they are fighting increasingly well."

Petraeus said there would be "no arithmetic relationship or mechanistic formula" to determine the number of combat-ready Iraqi forces needed before U.S. forces could withdraw. He declined to specify a timetable for the first withdrawals of nearly 160,000 U.S. combat forces in Iraq, calling that step "very conditions-based."